Masilamaneeswarar Temple, Thiruvaduthurai – Legends
Gomuktheeswarar:
Once, Lord
Shiva and Mother Parvathi were playing the game of dice in Kailash. Lord
Shiva purposely made goddess Parvathy to win each game. Overwhelmed with the
joy, she become arrogant and had excessive pride in her success. On seeing her
arrogance, Lord Shiva cursed to be born as a cow on earth. She was born as a
cow in Therazhundur and Lord Vishnu became her cowherd. She in the
form of cow worshipped Lord Shiva at Thirukozhambam.
She hit
the Shiva Linga mistakenly and its hoof mark can be seen on the Linga at Thirukozhambam.
Goddess Parvathy in the form of cow came to Thiruvaduthurai and worshipped Lord Shiva for relief. Pleased
with her worship, Lord Shiva restored her back to original form. As goddess
Parvati worshipped Lord Shiva here in the form the cow, the place came to be
called as Thiruvavaduthurai (Thiru means a respectful prefix, Aa means cow and
Thurai means river bank).
As Lord
Shiva restored her back to original form from cow form, he came to be called as
Gomuktheeswarar (Go means cow, Mukthi means relief & Eswarar means Lord
Shiva). Goddess Parvathy also wanted to marry Lord Shiva in an earthly marriage
with all religious rites on the earth. At the same time, Sage Bharatha
performed Putra Kameshti Yagna at Thiruthuruthi for child boon.
In order
to fulfill her wish, Lord Shiva made goddess Parvathy to appear in the form of
child from the Yagna Kunda. Sage Bharatha raised her as his own daughter. When
she attained the marriageable age, the sage was worried about finding a
suitable groom for her. Sage Bharatha prayed to Lord Shiva in finding a
suitable groom for her. Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and assured him that
he would marry her and also revealed to the sage that she is none other than
Goddess Parvathy.
Sage
Bharatha was overwhelmed with joy and made the arrangements for the divine
marriage. Sage Bharatha received his son in law at Ethirkolpadi. The
Yagna (Velvi) for the wedding ceremony was held at Thiruvelvikudi. The
earthly marriage of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy took place in Thiruvelvikudi. The
divine couple came after their wedding to Thirumanancheri and
granted their wedding darshan to everyone at Thirumanancheri.
Thirumoolar:
Tirumular originally known as Sundaranathar was a Tamil Shaivite mystic and writer, considered
one of the sixty-three Nayanmars and one of the 18 Siddhars. His
main work, Thirumandiram consists of over 3000 verses, forms a part
of the key text of the Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta, the Thirumurai. Verse
74 of the Thirumandiram makes the claim that Tirumular lived for
7 Yugams before composing the Thirumandiram.
He probably belonged to the beginning of the
eighth-century CE. Sundaranathar, as the saint is known, was a Yogi
originally from Then Madurai (currently Madurai) who travelled to Mount Kailasha
and was initiated directly by Lord Shiva’s chief attendant Nandi. Lord
Shiva favored him completely. After imparting all the knowledge, Nandi
directed him to move to South.
He undertook a journey to meet his contemporary sage
friend Agasthya in Podhigai Hills. After having darshan in various temples,
finally he reached the Kaveri delta and had darshan at
Thiruvavaduthurai. After darshan, while he was walking near Sathanur
village, he saw a group of cows shedding tears near the dead body of the
cowherd, Moolan. He took pity on the plight of the cows.
Using his spiritual powers, he separated his physical
body from life and kept the body in a bush. He then entered the dead body
of Moolan (In Tamil it is called Koodu Vittu Koodu Payudal or Parakaya
Pravesam). Due to this, Moolan got up as if he was awakened from his
slumber. The cows rejoiced after seeing their keeper alive. Moolan brought
the cows back home. On his arrival, Moolan’s wife tried to touch him.
Sundaranathar told her the entire story of his entering
Moolan’s body. When the villagers did not believe him, he made a demonstration
by entering into the body of a dead goat and then re-entering Moolan’s
body. The villagers realized that they were in the presence of a great
saint. The Yogi went back to the place where he had hidden his original
body. To his surprise, he could not find it there.
He then went into a trance and realized that his
entering Moolan’s body is also one of the commands of the Lord. Lord Shiva
appeared before him and he was ordered to write the Saivite philosophy and the
rules for proper living in simple Tamil, so that everyone could understand and
follow. Hence this place became an important pilgrimage centre to
celebrate the conversion of uneducated Moolan into the revered Thirumoolar.
He was deeply immersed in meditation under a Peepal tree
in Thiruvavaduthurai and received the holy hymn verse in Tamil. 3000 of holy
hymns have been documented in to the book called Thirumandiram. After
completion of his work, Shri Thirumoolar returned to Kailash. Today, there are
3,047 hymns are available in Thirumandiram. Possibly, 47 hymns might have been
added later on. Apart from being part of the 18 Siddha group, he is also
revered as one of the 63 Nayanmars.
Lord Shiva gifted bag of gold coins to Sambandar for
conducting a Yagna:
Saint
Tirugnanasambandar was staying in this place for a while with his father,
Shivapada Hrudayar. Shivapada Hrudayar wanted to perform a yajna in Sirkazhi
and requested his son to fund him for conducting the Yagna. Sambandar sang a pathigam
of ten verses praying to Lord Shiva for gold and other materials needed for the
yajna. Lord Shiva placed a bag of 1000 gold coins on the Balipeedam through
his Bhoodaganas.
The Bhoodaganas
informed Sambandar that this bag will forever remain filled with gold. Sambandar
gave the bag to his father to conduct the Yajna. The Balipeedam can still be
seen in the temple surrounded by idols of the Boodhaganas. It is believed that
worshiping the Lord Shiva from this place in the temple would bring prosperity
and wealth to devotees.
It is
also believed that while taking the purse from the Balipeedam, Sambandar could
smell a pleasant scent and he called it as Tamil Manam (Manam means Smell in
Tamil). He realized that something might have been hidden under the Balipeedam.
He requested the people to move the Balipeedam and found 3000 songs of
Thirumoolar written on palm leaves. This collection of the songs came to be
called as Thirumandiram. These palm leaves are preserved in the Mutt here.
Thiru Maligai Thevar:
Thiru Maligai
Thevar is the first among the nine Shaiva devotees who sung the Thiruvisaippa,
the ninth Thirumurai. He is also considered to be one of the disciples of Saint
Bhogar. He was born in Adi Shaiva family in Thiruvidaimarudur. His family lived
in a place called Maligai Madam in Thiruvidaimarudur. Hence, he came to be
called as Thiru Maligai Thevar. He was a scholar and served as guru to various
Chola kings.
However,
he decided to renounce his material life and turned to spirituality. He came to
Thiruvavaduthurai and practiced austerity under fig tree. He was blessed with
various divine powers by Lord Shiva and Parvati. A local king named Narasingan
ordered beheading of Thiru Maligai Thevar believing some baseless allegations
against him. When the soldiers came to this place, Ambika urged Lord Shiva to
protect him.
Lord
Shiva directed all the Nandis in the compound wall to drive away the soldiers.
As directed, the Nandis drove away the soldiers. Then, all the Nandis merged
together to become one huge Nandi. This Nandi can be seen in front of the Lord.
Hence, the sculptures of Nandi cannot be seen in the compound wall of this temple.
It is
also believed that Thiru Maligai Thevar once made a dead man walk to the
cremation ground using his yogic powers. Also, it is believed that he made the
Chidambaram car (Ther) run again after it had gotten stuck. Thus, reviving the car
festival in Chidambaram. The place where Thiru Maligai Thevar lived is
presently the Thiruvavaduthurai Mutt. There is a shrine for him considered
to be his burial place (Samathi) inside the Mutt.
Emperor
Musukunda Chakravarthy was blessed with Child here:
As per legend, Emperor Musukunda Chakravarthy was
childless and was worshipping an idol of Thyagaraja presented to him by Lord
Indra. One day, Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and advised to come to this place for worship to get a child. The emperor visited this place next day,
took bath in Gomukthi Theertham and came to the Masilamaneeswarar shrine. Lord
gave darshan to the emperor in the form of Vanmeeganathar of Thiruvarur and
also blessed him with child. It is believed that devotees would be blessed with
child if they pray to Lord Shiva here.
Sundarar
visit to this temple:
As per legend, Sundara Nayanar visited this temple on
his way to Thiruvarur from Kanchipuram. When he reached this temple, he was
unwell. He prayed to Lord Shiva for relief from his illness. Lord Shiva blessed
him and cured him. Sundarar then rendered a hymn praising Lord Shiva of this temple.
Navakoti
Siddharpuram:
As per legend, Navakoti Siddhars including Bhogar had
performed penance on Lord Shiva in this place. Lord Shiva taught the Ashtama
Siddhis (8 yogic powers) to Navakoti Siddhars. Thus, the place came to be
called as Navakoti Siddharpuram.
Chera,
Chola & Pandya Kings worshipped Lord Shiva here:
It is believed that emperors from three different
kingdoms namely King Cheraman Perumal, one of the 63 Nayanmars from Chera
dynasty, King Kochengata Chola from Chola dynasty and King Vikrama Pandyan from
Pandya dynasty had worshipped Lord Shiva of this temple.
Lord
Yama worshipped Lord Shiva here:
Lord Yama (Dharma Devta) is believed to have worshiped
Lord Shiva here. Lord Shiva blessed him and gave him the honour of taking the
place of his bull mount here.
Arasapuram:
As per
legend, Devas and sages requested Lord Shiva to bless them by performing his
Thandava. Pleased with their request, Lord Shiva performed his Thandava under
the Sthala Vriksham, Arasa Maram. Thus, the sabha came to be called as Bodhi
Ambala Sabha and the place came to be called as Arasapuram. It is believed that
the devas and sages are present in the form of Arasa Tree.
Thunaivantha Ganapathi:
As per
legend, Lord Ganesha accompanied his Mother Parvati and had shown the way to
locate the Lingam. Hence, Lord Ganesha of this temple came to be called as Thunaivantha
Ganapathi.
People worshipped Lord Shiva here:
It is
believed that Goddess Parvati, Brahma, Devas, Dharuma Nandi, Musukunda
Chakravarthy, Angaraka, Agastya, Agni, Navakoti Siddhars, Bhogar, Sambandar,
Appar, Sundarar, Manickavasagar, Kochengata Chola, Varaguna Pandya, Sendanar,
Pattinathu Pillaiyar, Nambiyandar Nambi, Sekkizhar, Cheraman Perumal,
Thirumoolar and Thiru Maligai Thevar had worshipped Lord Shiva of this temple.
Other Names:
The place was called as Gomukthi Nagar, Arasavanam, Arasapuram, Kokazhi, Sivapuram,
Mukthi Kshetram, Nandi Kshetram, Brahmapuram, Agasthyapuram, Dharuma Nagar,
Gajaranyam, Thuraisai, Thiruvavaduthurai, Bhooloka Kailasa, Thyagapuram,
Bodhivanam, Mahathandavapuram, Vedapuram, Nandi Nagar and Navakoti Siddhapuram
during ancient times.
Sages & Lord Brahma got their upadesam of Shiva
Gnanam here:
As per
legend, Sages and Lord Brahma got their upadesam of Shiva Gnanam in this place.